With the shifting healthcare environment, the importance of public healthcare systems is being emphasized, and the efficiency of public healthcare systems has become a critical research agenda. We reviewed recent research on the efficiency of public healthcare systems using DEA, which is one of the leading methods for efficiency analysis. Through a systematic review, we investigated research trends in terms of research purposes, specific DEA techniques, input/output factors used for models, etc. Based on the review results, future research directions are suggested. The results of this paper provide valuable information and guidelines for future DEA research on public healthcare systems.

Though environment-social-governance (ESG) practices are increasingly prevalent in the business world, academic research about the impact of ESG on firms’ efficiency remains in its infancy. In this study sampling 24 international hotel firms during the period of 2013–2019, we examine how ESG standards improve these hotels’ operational efficiency obtained via data envelopment analysis (DEA). We further investigate how ESG can help manage a crisis by examining the period before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results reveal that ESG can indeed enhance hotels’ efficiency. Specifically, the social and environmental aspects are the most important factors that contribute to the operational efficiency of hotel firms. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, hotel firms with the best ESG practice can be more efficient than others, especially those that have very high environmental and social scores. Overall, our findings suggest that hotel firms should consider ESG investment, not only as an effective and sustainable strategy during normal times but also as a crisis management strategy to overcome unexpected crises that may arise in the future. Funding: This work was supported by the Seed fund of Vin University [Grant IO 400043].

With global recession and growing international competition among brands, cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) are increasing in the luxury industry. Since country-of-origin (COO) plays a large role in a luxury brand’s image, a CBA that changes the nationality of the company owning the luxury brand and modifies consumer COO knowledge can influence consumer brand perception. This study explores the influence of a luxury brand’s CBA on perceived brand value and the moderation effect of brand loyalty. In the case of a CBA by a company associated with a superior country image, only perceptions of low-loyalty consumers are affected positively by the CBA information. In the case of a CBA by a company associated with an inferior country image, only perceptions of high-loyalty consumers are affected negatively by the CBA information. The result of this study provides a deep understanding of how consumer brand perception is influenced by the changes of brand-country association.

We propose a network DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) model that consists of internal and external service processes and employs customer satisfaction as an intermediate factor. Using the proposed model, we calculate four efficiency scores: service productivity score drawn from internal service process, service efficiency score drawn from external service process, overall efficiency score drawn from both internal and external service processes, and management efficiency score calculated without the intermediate output. By analyzing the four efficiency scores, we find that overall efficiency score is well suited to represent a hotel’s comprehensive productivity. Our results support the validity of a network DEA model which includes customer satisfaction for analyzing hotel efficiency. Despite its important role that plays in hotel efficiency, customer satisfaction has been barely considered in the previous hotel efficiency studies. By analyzing hotel efficiency including customer satisfaction, this study sheds new light on the hotel efficiency research area and provides a valuable basis for future research.

Despite the increasing attention being given to cross-channel integration services, an understanding of the impact of cross-channel integration on customer experience is still lacking. This study fills this gap. With a focus on retail brand experience, this study demonstrates that cross-channel integration impacts customer experience and further results in changes in perception and behavioral intention. A conceptual model that illustrates the customers’ psychological mechanism responding to cross-channel integration was developed. To test the model, a scenario-based online experiment was conducted. The results show that perceived channel integration impacts retail brand experience, which in turn impacts perceived service convenience, satisfaction, and patronage intention. Creating a better experience is a key challenge for retailers to ensure customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Our results show that cross-channel integration services can play a pivotal role in the shaping of retail brand experience in today’s competitive retail environment that continuously evolves, owing to digital technology. The findings of this study add valuable new knowledge to the growing omnichannel retailing literature and provide practical insights to develop omnichannel retail services.